Willow
by FlamestormSandshadowMossfire
Summary: My first story ever! A gray kit is washed away from her family during a flood. She is found by rogues who care for her, but will she ever find her family again? Read and review! Rated T because...I might have future scenes? I don't know, but just to be on the safe side (not really different than the original series).
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

On a slightly breezy green-leaf afternoon, the harshness of life became known to one dark, lithe, and beautiful she-cat. Her name was Night and she was about to have her third litter of kits. Over the past seasons, every litter that she bore died. Every, single kit. They were whisked away from her through green cough, foxes, badgers, and the like. This time, Night decided to have her kits in a small cave and lived in it for five moons before bearing her kits. Now, it was finally time.

One by one, they slid out into the world. Night wrapped her tail around them, letting them suckle. Warm milk-scent filled the small cave and Night sighed in happiness. Her world seemed full and perfect again.

**One Moon Later**

Night laughed as Frost, Jay, and Feather held a contest to decide who would be the best badger. "I could definitely be the scariest! I could chase away a storm of birds!" Jay fluffed up his soft gray fur and focused his ocean blue eyes on Feather. "Haha!" Feather laughed, "It's a not a herd of birds; it's a flock!" Her light ginger and white patched pelt glowed in the sunlight and her soft blue eyes glittered warmly. Jay frowned as Frost reenacted his enlightening fiasco. Frost twitched her whiskers and fluffed up her white (such a pale gray basically white) pelt and growled. Her blue eyes glittered with mischief as she bunched up her muscles and sprang towards Jay.

"Mommy, what's Frost doing?" Night glanced down as the youngest of her kits spoke up. Usually, Willow was soft spoken and never said much. She had just opened up her eyes two days ago. Night was surprised when she saw the color of her eyes. Willow had forest green eyes. There was nothing unusual about them. It was the simple fact that Night and her mate both had blue eyes. _She's different, and I like it, _Night thought.

As it got late, Willow asked to get out of the nest and Night moved to let her out. Willow stood and her legs wobbled a bit, but she stood tall and half flopped, half walked out of the nest. "Willow's up!" Frost yowled in happiness as soon as she saw her younger sister. "So good to see you!" Feather said. "Want to play with us?" Jay added. Willow looked uncertain, but nodded. "What are you playing?" she asked, and Night smiled. _They are going to turn into great cats_. Jay jumped up, excited to show Willow what was happening.

As the sun sank low, the kits grew tired of playing their game and returned to the nest for milk. Everything had seemed perfect in that moment, but it was only hanging from a thread; or rather, simply balanced on a skipping stone.

**Thanks for reading! This is my first story ever! I know it was short, but I'm having problems with my computer and had to type the whole thing off of my school computer. It wouldn't send through email): Anyway, more chapters are coming! Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**This is just foreshadowing what will happen. I know that these are people and not warrior cats or anything, so I will update two chapters today. I thought that this would be a good thing to include in the story because it gives insight on what really happened. Enjoy!**

"Alex! Wait up!" Alex turned to see his friend, Sam falling behind. Rolling his eyes, he replied, "Keep up slowpoke! I'm not waiting!" With that, he turned and continued jogging around the lake. "I'm not in cross country!" Sam complained. "You're in track," Alex pointed out, "Isn't that a sport where you run?" Sam groaned in response, "I sprint the 50 meter hurdles and do long jump. I don't do distance, and if I did, I would have done cross country." Sam hiccupped and Alex slowed his pace to match his friend's, "We can take a break at the edge of the dam." Sam nodded and they continued on in silence.

The dam came up faster than expected and Alex slowed to a walk, barely breathing hard. Same bent over, his hands on his knees, and continued huffing as if he had just run a marathon. Alex laughed and bent down to scoop up a few stones. He turned to Sam, "Can you skip rocks?" Sam rolled his eyes as he wiped sweat off of his face. "You don't skip rocks, you skip stones," he replied, but scooped up a few as well. "Whatever," Alex muttered, "Let's have a competition!"

The boys began skipping stones, but were oblivious to the sign that they had passed before stopping at the dam. The sign said: **DO NOT THROW ANYTHING IN THE LAKE NEAR THE DAM! NO TRESPASSING! **

Alex and Sam continued throwing stones and laughing; doing what all teenagers would do, hanging out and having a good time. Soon, the dam started creaking. Alex threw another stone and the creaking grew louder. The boys stopped and exchanged looks. The stones were no longer sinking to the bottom. They weren't even below the surface. They were piled on other stones that had been thrown into the lake. Cracks appeared in the wood and the dam started to shake. Within a minute, the shaking stopped and the boys let out held breaths. "Bet you thought it was going to fall!" Alex laughed breathlessly, his face very pale. Sam opened his mouth to respond, but the boys turned when they heard a bell. It was Amanda, from next door. "Uh, oh," Sam whispered, the grin sliding off of his face. "Hey, stupid heads!" Amanda yelled as she rode her bike closer, "Eat this!" she chucked a stone at them. Alex and Sam hit the deck, and the stone went sailing over their heads. It landed right on top…of the dam. Nothing happened after a few seconds, but after those few seconds, it exploded. The dam burst outward and water flew over the side of the cliff. "Oh," Alex said. "No," Sam finished. The boys turned and ran, leaving a stunned Amber in their wake.

Night licked her kits as they fell asleep against her. As she was drifting off, Night heard a sound. It sounded like dripping water. It was probably nothing, but she slowly stood up, careful not to rouse the kits. Silently, she crept out of the den and padded up to the dam. A trickling of water was running down its side. Her heart twisted and fear almost empowered her. "Kits! Kits!" she yowled, racing inside of the cave. Frost and Jay slowly sat up. "Get out of the cave! Now!" she yowled urgently, shoving them out of the nest. Jay started protesting, but Frost got the idea quickly and scampered out of the cave. "Meet me at the special tree!" she called after her kit, and heard an almost inaudible squeak as Jay raced out of the den after her. Night shook Feather awake and took Willow in her mouth. They raced out of the cave and met Jay and Frost at the tree. It was more inside the forest than other trees and taller.  
>"Not wasting any time, Night swung Feather and Jay onto her back. She gripped Willow firmly in her mouth and had Frost cling onto her tail. Then, she started the climb.<p>

Halfway up the tree, Night heard the groaning of the dam and knew that she needed to hurry. Poor Frost was flying about as she leapt in strong jumps up the tree. They would all have made it to safety if a hawk hadn't decided to drop in at just the wrong time. There was a nest at the top of the tree. It was probably the hawk's. The hawk dove at the cats and Night desperately tried to fight them off. Willow tumbled into the nest, followed by Feather and Jay. This left Night's paws free and she easily beat the hawk.  
>The hawk scratched his talons along her back. She grabbed its foot as it tried to get away and swung it powerfully down to the ground, way below. Right as she picked up her kits and began to climb again, the water was on them.<br>Sadly, I wish I could say that they made it. Everything would have been fine and no heart breaking, sorrow, and awful terror, fright, and fear would have occurred. A family wouldn't have been broken apart, but I'm sad to say that didn't happen. The water crashed overhead and that was the end of Night's perfect life.

**Willow POV**

Willow awoke to the sound of frantic words and cold. Nothing but cold, cold, cold. She shivered and hiccupped. Opening her eyes, Willow saw two cats standing near her. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, but Willow couldn't pick out what they were saying. She took a deep breath and to ask a question. It had been throbbing in her head since she found herself here, "Where's Night?" She caught the attention of the two cats and they looked over at her. "It's day right now," the brown and white patched cat said. "My name is Patch," he continued, "This, is Dove." Patch gestured towards a plump all white she-cat with curious, amber eyes. "Who are you, and where have you come from?" he asked. Willow tried to sit up, but ended flopping over and coughing up mouthfuls of water. Dove looked concerned and Patch watched curiously.  
>"I'm guessing that you don't know how to swim," Patch stated. Willow, although weak, was able to narrow her eyes at the two cats.<p>

"Well, seeing as though you aren't helping me any, I'm going to leave." Willow turned up her nose and meant to stalk away, but her legs weren't working, and she flopped to the ground. "You poor thing," Dove cooed, "My Twoleg can help you." Dove padded over to Willow and prodded her with her paw. "Follow me!" Dove said rather brightly considering the situation. Willow hissed and tried to bite at the paw. Dove gasped in horror and leapt backwards. "Have you no manners? I was trying to help you!" she sounded aghast. Inside, Willow smirked, but she was too tired to move.

"What's going on?" Willow heard a new voice. It was deeper than the other two cats', but much kinder. "We just found this little thing and were trying to have her come with us to Dove's Twoleg," answered Patch. Willow heard the new cat huff. "Like that would help," she heard him mutter. He spoke again, "Is it a half drowned rat or a cat?" Patch tried to answer, but the new cat cut him off, "You would never have found out if you didn't try to even help the poor thing."

"Well we-"

"No, 'We were trying'. You two go off to your Twolegs and when you learn how to properly care for a cat, come back and talk to me. Then, I'll send you right back and tell you to do it four hundred more times. By then, you might learn how to be a real cat and not some undignified Twoleg robot!" Patch and Dove gasped, apparently taken aback. Willow had her eyes closed throughout the conversation and finally opened them. She saw a red furred tom with warm amber eyes. Patch and Dove padded off in a huff, just leaving her and the tom.  
>"Hello," he said, "My name is Red. You look a little washed up. I'll take you back to my place. When you're better, you can leave or stay, your choice." Willow nodded and he started rasping his tongue over her fur the wrong way. Willow squeaked and Red told her, "If I lick your fur this way, you will get warmer faster." Willow only nodded and Red was soon finished. Willow felt so much warmer and he picked her up by her scruff and padded to somewhere unknown.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

****I won't be doing this anymore after this. I just wanted to let everyone know where Night is and what happened to her****

As the waters overtook her and her kits, Night was pushed under. She felt Frost still clinging to her tail, but she didn't know where Jay, Feather, and Willow were. Quickly, Night paddled to the surface and grabbed Frost off her tail. The little she-kit was coughing out mouthfuls of water as they spun in the currents. Up ahead, Night could glimpse the ginger and white pelt of Feather. As fast as she could, she set off for the scrap of fur. It bobbed in the currents for a few seconds and was all of a sudden gone. Night panicked, but soon realized why the kit disappeared. There was a cliff. There was so much water from the dam that it carried the water over the cliff. There wasn't a natural pool at the bottom. Night struggled to get to the edge, where there was no water. It took so much effort to get there, Night's heart ached to dive in after Feather, but she knew it would be suicide and that Feather was probably already dead. Her mind clouded with grief, and for a moment she forgot what she was doing. A log came out of no where and hit her head. Frost was jerked from her grasp and she tumbled down into the water, hitting something else. Night could no longer see Frost, but when she got back to the surface, she heard the wailing of one of her kits. It was Jay!

"I'm coming!" she yowled, "Hang on!" Jay's voice was quieter, "Mama, it's not me! It's Feather, she's stuck! She's stuck on a branch!" Night knew that Jay was okay. If she couldn't find Frost, Feather would be her next priority. "I'm coming Feather!" she called as a wave of water filled her mouth. She let the waters carry her towards the drop. As she got closer, Night pressed her feet to the ground to slow herself down and save Feather. The waters turned out to be too strong. Night saw the branch that Feather was trapped on, but she was carried over her daughter. Twisting and yowling in fear for her kits, Night fell. As she fell she heard Feather's desperate plea for help, "Mama!" It echoed in her head as she fell to her certain death below.

_I couldn't save them. I couldn't save my kits._

Willow awoke to the smell of other cats and a different place. She blinked open her eyes to find herself in a nest, curled up beside another cat. Willow sat up and jumped out of the nest, alarmed. Where was her mother? Where were her siblings? The cat seemed to notice that she was awake and blinked warmly at her. "My name is Echo. Red said he found you washed out from the flood." A flood? Then, Willow remembered the previous night when they had been washed out of the tree. "We were washed away. Mama tried to save us," she murmured half to herself. Echo nodded, her eyes concerned. "Have you seen them?" Willow asked, "My family?" Echo looked deterred; as if she didn't want to let the little kit down. "Well, Red only found you, but we can look for them when you are all better. It would help to know what they look like. What wer-um-are their names."

Willow was fond of her littermates, but she didn't know how to describe them to her new friend, Echo. "There is Jay. He was the only boy," she began, "He has light gray fur and blue eyes. All of my littermates do. Then there is Feather. She is ginger and white patched. Frost is white. I'm Willow and I have gray fur with a darker ring around my tail and green eyes. I also have a special mark on my paw. Mama said it made me special." She held up her paw and examined the mark on the bottom. "It's very pretty," Echo said kindly. It was shaped almost like a tree, but it was more of a blob and it was a raspberry color. "What does your mother look like?" she asked. Willow's eyes clouded in grief and for a moment, she couldn't see through her tears. "Mama's name is Night and she is all black with blue eyes," Willow whispered, "My father lives with his littermates. Mama was going to bring us to him after we were six moons old and better able to defend ourselves, but I don't know where he is." She felt Echo's tail tip rest reassuringly on her shoulder, "It's okay. Your littermates probably got out of the flood and might try to find your father. It would be a good idea to do. What is his name?" Willow hung her head, staring at nothing, "I don't know."

Willow frowned. Her and Echo's conversation had ended a few minutes ago and she knew that there was more to this place than just the "nursery." That was what Echo had called it. Sneaking around the edge of the nursery, Willow soon found the entrance and peeked out through it. No more than she did, another cat and kits entered. Willow stumbled back and fell onto her haunches. "Well, what do we have here, Echo?" the new cat asked.

"Sun, this is Willow. She was rescued by Red and now I'm caring for her. Willow, this is Sun. She just had her kits one moon ago. They are about your age I would guess," Echo gestured to the light golden tabby with green eyes that had entered the nursery. "Hello, Willow," Sun purred. "Hello," Willow responded. Sun swept her tail around her four kits that were playing and gathered them towards Willow and herself. "Willow, this is Rock," she gestured towards the brown tabby tom with green eyes, "This is Cricket," the dark brown-almost-black she-kit stepped forwards towards Willow, her eyes blue shining with curiosity. Sun continued, "This is Toby and this is Robin." Toby was a lighter brown tabby with blue eyes. Robin was a light golden tabby she-kit with green eyes. She was the spitting image of her mother. "Hello, I'm Willow," she introduced herself to the four other kits.

"Mama," Rock asked Sun, "Where did Willow come from? Was she a kittypet?" Sun looked surprised and slapped her tail over Rock's mouth, "Hush, Willow was rescued by Red. She was never a kittypet," Sun gave a sideways glance at Willow, "There is nothing bad about kittypets, anyway." Rock looked frustrated and a sort of awkward silence crept over the cats. "Umm, do you want to play moss ball?" Willow finally spoke up and asked the kits. "What's moss ball?" They all asked in unison. Willow laughed, "Follow me!" They all raced out of the dens and could hear Sun and Echo calling after them, "Be careful! Don't get hurt!"

They burst into the morning sunlight and Willow taught them how to play. It was so much fun, and reminded her of home. Sadness turned into hope and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Willow felt comfortable, happy, and safe.

**Sorry, this chapter was a little bit crazy. I'm sick today, so I stayed home from school and I had enough time to update, so I did!(: Hopefully, you enjoyed this. It was a little bit of a filler chapter, but every story needs those. Haha(: Have a great day!**

**My Reviewers!**

**Birdflame: I'll try to update once a week, but since I was sick today, I took the opportunity. Surprise!(:**

**tye dye tail: Thanks!**

**IvyleafHollypool: Thanks! So far, I love it!**


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